Results :
A total of 1218 eyes underwent ppV. In 248 (20.4%) cases a silicone oil filling was needed due to giant retinal tears, inferior tear location and significant PVR. Overall 59 primary macula-on RRD were treated with SO. After exclusion of 6 patients, which were lost to follow up, and 9 patients with an explained visual loss, 45 patients remained for final analysis. 9 out of these had an unexplained visual loss (20%). Mean visual acuity dropped from 0.1 logMAR preoperatively to 0.8logMAR (p<0.001). In eyes without a visual loss, vision improved slightly from 0.2 to 0.18 logMAR. Mean duration of silicone oil filling in the group with vision loss was 161.0 ±38.8 days compared to 104.6 days ± 43.6 and was identified as a risk factor for developing visual loss (p<0.001).

Conclusions :
Unexplained visual loss in association with silicone oil endotamponade is a serious and severe complication in the surgical treatment of macular sparing RRD. The incidence of an unexplained visual loss in our population is comparable to previous studies, which reported incidence rates of 30% and seems to be associated to SO endotamponade duration.

This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.